In a survey before president Trump initiated his partial ban on Muslims, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs asked 10,000 people in 10 EU countries, including the UK, what they thought of Muslims - whether they would support the kind of ban Candidate and President-Elect Trump had called for during his campaign.
Survey before Trump Order
The survey, which took place before President Trump issued his controversial Executive Order banning all Syrians permanently and those from 6 other predominently muslim countries for 90 days, asked if people agreed or disagreed with the following statement, ‘All further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped,’ and to what extent they either agreed or disagreed.
Many EU leaders have disagreed with the ban. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Trump about UN Refugee Convention. The 1949 Geneva Convention included a complete ban on all refugees as a war crime.
London's Mayor Sadiq Khan opposes trump's proposed state visit.
Meanwhile, right-leaning party leaders Geert Wilders, Nigel Farage and Matteo Salvini, all strongly support President Trump.
Shocker
But, never mind what the elected leaders think, what did the people say in the survey? According to Chatham House, in the majority of people in all EU countries opposed all further migration from mainly Muslim countries while 45% either disagreed or had no opinion.
In all but two of the countries included in the survey more than 50% of the people agreed with the idea of a Muslim ban, with a peak of 71% in Poland and 65% in Austria.
In the UK 47% of those surveyed agreed with a ban on Muslims. The lowest anti-Muslim sentiment was recorded at 41% in Spain, but in none of the 10 countries did the numbers of those who disagreed with a ban exceed 32%.
In Belgium, France, and Hungary more than 60% of the people agreed with a Muslim ban.
Chatham House conclusion
At the end of the press release about the survey and its results which showed that anti-Muslim feelings are not confined to President Trump’s US followers, the Chatham House conclusion was that Muslim immigration is opposed by older and less educated people.
